My Autoethnography Of Selfie

That being said, my photography has always centered around the beauty in everybody else. I am incredibly particular in the way that I want these captured moments to look, I would rather be behind it than in front of it. Looking at recent pictures taken of me, it feels almost unnatural that I should even be there. It’s nothing like I’m insecure about myself or my looks, and I welcome

In presenting a theory about myself as a leader, I will attempt to draw conclusions about my strengths and weakness as a leader based on the things learned in this class. I will speculate on a reflective leadership best-self-portrait through my work experiences that draw on my interpersonal resources for vision. Recognizing my talents and shortcomings will help develop both micro and macro levels of resource development needed to reach my full potential.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. At least, that’s what is taught to believe at an early age. Elline Lipkin, however, holds fast to the understanding that as true as that saying may be, there are outside forces that are intent on readjusting our vision to “true beauty”: the kind that can be bought off the shelves. In her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality”, Lipkin employs several different external resources to help demonstrate her belief that young girls’ (“Before they even abandon their teddy bears…“ (Para 2)) definition of their own appearance is polluted and distorted by the vastly massive world that is the American media. Besides pulling from other articles and fact sheets, she also effectively utilizes a clearly logical train of thought, an operative tone, and countless examples of emotional appeal.

In “Why We Take Pictures,” Susan Sontag discusses the increase use of technology and its ability to impact the daily lives of mankind. Taking pictures is a form of self-evolution that slowly begins to shape past and present experiences into reality. Sontag argues how the use of photography is capable of surpassing our reality by helping us understand the concept of emotion, diversity, and by alleviating anxiety and becoming empowered. Moreover, according to her argument, people are able to construct a bond between the positive or negative moments in life to cognitively release stress through reminiscing. Therefore, Sontag claims that photography itself can help with reshaping individual’s perspectives of reality by being able to empathize with the emotions portrayed through an image. Thus, giving

Like most college students, my self-esteem is less than stellar. However, in the poem, “I have come to claim Marilyn Monroe’s body” by Judy Grahn the realization that hyper-sexualizing runs rampant in our society becomes apparent. Therefore, it is possible that my body is not the problem. In fact, if the narrator can use a classic symbol of beauty like Marilyn Monroe to, “Bust his camera with your long smooth thigh”, then I or any other subject of our culture’s warped sense of beauty is to blame for negative body image.

“We are constantly surrounded by all sorts of media and we construct our identities in part through media images we see.” Social media plays a huge role in constructing our idea of the perfect body. But it hasn’t always been the same idea. Over the years, the perfect body image has changes. The ideal body image has changed so much over time because media never stays the same, fashion trends are always changing, there’s such a diversity of bodies in this world to choose from, and different cultures consider different bodies beautiful.

The internet is perhaps one of mankind’s greatest milestones. It connects people from all over the world, thus eradicating traditional boundaries of land and sea. Along with this connectivity comes the availability of information and instant communication. This sort of digitalization of human interaction is evident in social media websites like Facebook. People are able to communicate with each other and share aspects of their lives constantly. A popular form of self-expression present across all social media platforms is the ‘selfie’: an informal photograph of oneself taken by that person either with a front facing camera or other form of unprofessional photography. It has become such a phenomenon that it was named Oxford English Dictionary’s

Journalist Anna Hart argues this is the new era of people sharing selfies on a daily basis, that society has reached into “the age vanity, the digital vanity, you can argue no generation is immune from the selfie craze” (Hart,2014). A selfie has a variety of audiences from children capturing their best look to The Pope, it’s the new way of capturing evidence of your interaction with different people, better than asking for an autograph. However, in Hart’s (2014) article she argues that the idea that there is a need to look a certain way all of the time, especially when you are posting a selfie on social media, it almost has to be perceived in a positive way, showing the best selfie. Hart (2014) said “I need to look healthy, glossy and polished

1. I am a Christian and a kindness shown me by one Muslim girl, Salamatu, changed my perspective on Islam as a whole.

“No one is forced to take selfies, but the preponderance of selfie culture inspires a heightened self-consciousness of our personal images online.” This is apart of the Times Article, and how peer pressure is the cause of people being self-consciousness about what they post online.

Minh-ha raises the point that now; women in particular have the potential to be “co-creators” in regards to their body image. She argues that the images of women – particularly those previously marginalized – have been radically transformed and that they now have agency to portray themselves wherever, however and if they chose. Gone are the days where the object of an image was controlled and objectified. Now, one may control how and if they are to be objectified and to what audience. She muses over Giroux promoting the idea that selfies (and thus other forms of self-presentation on social media, inclusive of reality TV shows) are simply

“The media has taken many celebrity appearances into their own hands, many times without permission” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). Because of the media photoshopping women 's beauty on TV, social media, and even advertisements, it began to create a high rate of accusations of teenage girls’ all over the world. “In a recent study, the University at Buffalo sociologists found that the portrayal of women in the popular media over the last several decades has become increasingly sexualized, even pornified"( Donovan par.1). Due to this, women have been treated as sexual objects everywhere. Objectification comes from the lack of confidence and media 's portrayal of beauty; Due to this, the portrayal of men is not the same as females objectification is when women are treated like sexual objects. ‘Objectification is often defined by physical appearance, rather than personality” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). As a result, women should not struggle to keep up with these trends today. “In order to achieve a ‘perfect’ look, the media manipulates photos using unnecessary editing in Photoshop to completely contort the original, creating an unnatural image” (“The Objectification of Women” par.2). The media is the dominant cause of these actions of teenage girls insecurities, high rates of surgical treatment, and males creating these fictitious assumptions. Objectification in social media should end because it causes teenage insecurities,

It’s difficult to envision a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our present circumstance is a relatively new occurrence. Before the mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were restricted to our own communities. Until the introduction of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real-life images of faces and bodies. Most people did not even own mirrors. Today, however, we are more obsessed with our appearance than ever before. But the concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable given society’s standards. According to Jane Kilborne, “Every period of history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the

My set of selfies tells the story of a young man trying to get through the struggles of life, however our character has

It was one of many that looks almost identical. It depicts me focusing on the camera, with a simple gray t-shirt, blond-brown hair, a black choker, with a background of my room. Additionally, The angle of the camera is down facing upward at me. It is an up close photo that seeks to highlight my face and my mood. When making an observation of my form of visual representation through self portrayal I am able to recognize how Encheva’s ideologies can be applied to my selfie. Firstly, the angle of the camera is what sticks out most keenly to me. Encheva states, “the camera height is also significant: the view from below (low angle) makes the represented subject look imposing and awesome…” (151). As the taker and point of focus in the photo I am able to elaborate that my intentions were just as Encheva eluded. It is difficult to admit how important self image is. Furthermore, this is more than just a photo that I took just to have fro myself as it was a photo that I soon after posted on Instagram. While I am not one that seeks validation from others it does make one feel “cool” or is a slight confidence booster if the photo receives a number of likes of